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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Lois Beckett in Los Angeles

‘Crime against nature’: the rise and fall of the world’s most notorious succulent thief

California United States South Korea South Africa
A California game wardens with wild dudleya plants.
A California game wardens with wild dudleya plants. Photograph: courtesy California Department of Fish and Wilidlife

When Byungsu Kim appeared for his sentencing hearing on Zoom from the Santa Ana jail in California, his jaw was wired shut.

The 46-year-old South Korean national had been in prison for more than two years on two different continents. According to the US government, he was an “international succulent trafficker”, perhaps the most notorious houseplant poacher in the world.

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